Northstar Engines and System Technical Discussion Discussion, Sold one of my '97 to my best friend, now it won't start in Cadillac Engine Technical Discussion; It's an Olds Aurora (engines are 95% the same minus the bore size) and he's leaving for his honeymoon, or ...

Sold one of my '97 to my best friend, now it won't start

It's an Olds Aurora (engines are 95% the same minus the bore size) and he's leaving for his honeymoon, or planning to, but the car will not start. It died on him after his wedding.

1. tested fuel pressure at the rail. 35psi. Not according to specs, but within a few PSI it should still start. It has a new fuel filter, because the old one collapsed and let dirt pass by.

2. Because the filter collapsed, we removed the fuel rail and injectors, cleaned everything, washed the line out and repaced. Checked the FPR as well. Still no start.

3. Spark was verified, but changed the plugs and ICM just in case. Checked the coil pack ground, all was good.

4. Of course, pulled the codes. No codes.

It just won't fire up. Sometimes it wants to, but doesn't. The wierd thing is the plugs don't seem to get wet, yet spark is present. I'm left with two options: Test the injector harness for 12V+ and from there, crank position sensors.

And I stay well away from ether/quick start. I had a bad experience with that one time, never again.

Must be something I'm overlooking or haven't tried yet. Wish I had a tech 2 right now. Lucky for my friend John I have bins and bins full of Northstar parts and sensors.

Re: Sold one of my '97 to my best friend, now it won't start

I know Caddys have two fuses for the injectors but I couldn't find them for the Aurora. If it's a burnt fuse somewhere I'll be kicking myself. The injectors were spraying two straight jets on my workbench so they were long overdue for a good cleaning.

Re: Sold one of my '97 to my best friend, now it won't start

Yeah. I was the best man at the wedding, which recently changed from another friend of his because they got a bit upset with each other. He never showed even as a spectator....I won't point fingers but that certainly was no accident.

Cleaned the tank bottom, there was a bit of sediment and dirt in the bottom as well so it was a good idea anyways. Re-installed the pump, new clean fuel, purged the line and cleared the rest of the water/moisture/dirt from the line, and changed the plugs once again to NGK platinums (friend's on a budget, and I'm out of AC's) that I had from a parts car.

A bit of cranking got it fired right up, and after about 30 seconds or so it smoothed out. I haven't checked the fuel pressure again but it doesn't seem to lack at all under WOT so a new pump can wait for now. I once had a 4.0 Aurora running with only 8 psi in the fuel system. Ran like $h!t but nevertheless, it ran.